"Did we lose them?" Buffy gasped, turning to the Doctor, as they piled inside Giles' house. She looked weak, her face flushed, like she'd been running for hours without any Slayer strength. "Like, all of them?"
The Doctor was also breathing hard. "Yep. Lost the last of those pimple-faced minion things a few blocks back." He flipped his sonic in the air. "Gave them a bit of a trick. Don't think we'll meet them, again, in a hurry."
Giles stepped forwards, offering Buffy a chair and putting the kettle on — just in case she had randomly turned English, in the last few hours, and now wanted some tea.
Buffy finally digested where they were.
"Dawn," Buffy said, turning on Giles. "Is Dawn still…?"
Giles gestured at the girl sleeping on his sofa. "We gave her some supper and she fell asleep." He tried to sit Buffy down on the chair, before she could fall over. "Did Angel tell you anything?"
"Yeah, that's our other problem," Buffy said. "Angel's not Angel, anymore." She squirmed out of his grip and, instead, began to rummage through books on Giles' bookshelf. "There's gotta be a way to get his soul back, Giles. Like, magic, or…!"
"I think he's the least of our worries," the Doctor cut in. He ran a hand through his hair. "If this is January, 1998, then Angel turning into Angelus is pretty much par for the course. That's not important. What is important is our Drusilla problem."
"Drusilla?!" Buffy spun on him. "Doctor, my boyfriend just lost his soul and is now one of the most evil…!"
"I saw what he did to Susan," the Doctor said, his voice turning dark and lifeless, for a second. A hard bitterness burned in his eyes. Then he blinked, and it was gone. "But Angelus is just a bully. A great big evil, sadistic, amoral bully — but still, just a bully. It's the Meyomelae Krvas who's really dangerous."
Giles frowned. "Meyomelae…?"
"This Goddess that you lot worship," the Doctor explained. "She isn't just any ordinary 12th dimensional being. We had stories about her, back on Gallifrey — and she was a nasty piece of work." The Doctor scratched the back of his neck. "She's clever. Devastatingly powerful. I thought that my lot had weakened her — maybe even fractured her in two — back during the days of Rassilon, but it's as if your Goddess worked out some way to find the other fractured part and stitch herself back together!"
"I… see," said Giles, who didn't.
Buffy bunched her hands into fists. "Angel…!"
"Elizabeth, listen to me," the Doctor said, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Angelus just wants to carve us up in some twisted act of revenge — because each of us made him feel a bit more human, and he hates that." He shook her. "The Meyomelae Krvas pretends she wants the same — because that's what Angelus understands. But she doesn't. What she wants is something far more terrifying."
"She wants to have sex with my boyfriend!" Buffy shouted.
The Doctor sighed. "Blimey — you have a bit of a one-track mind, tonight." He shook his head. "It'd put the Quantum Crystallizer to shame. That's what she said! All the cruelty, all the so-called sadism — when she does it, it's not just cruel or sadistic. Everything is very carefully calculated. She is using precise computations to manipulate both our lives, in order to fulfill some plan that'll allow her to alter time to her will."
"How?" Buffy demanded. "How is she going to use us to do time-altering stuff?"
The Doctor let go of her, and stuffed his hands into his pockets, giving a sheepish grin.
"You don't know, do you?" Buffy snapped. "You just think that's what she's doing." She turned around, and began rummaging through books, again. "My boyfriend just became a homicidal maniac, Doctor — and he's sleeping with my daughter. I can't let that keep happening."
The Doctor ran a hand through his hair. "Fine, fine. Let's just… blow off the end of the universe, so you can have a moment to obsess over a vampire boyfriend who thinks it's fine and dandy to sleep with underage girls who've just turned seventeen."
The Doctor's eyes landed on Dawn, and he suddenly got curious. He ran over, analyzing her.
"Sorry — who's this?" the Doctor asked, buzzing her with his sonic.
Giles seemed confused. "You know who that is. Surely you've met Buffy's sister, before."
"Sister?" The Doctor quirked an eyebrow at him. "She's an only child. She doesn't have a sister." The Doctor analyzed the readings and frowned. Shook his head. "Sides which… well, plain as the nose on your face. Dawn's got that sort of green glow about her. Bit like she's a disguise… for…"
The Doctor trailed off, as a lost, lonely expression trickled across his face.
"Ah," the Doctor said. "Yes, that's right — they said, at the Watchers' Council. The Monks of the Order of Dagon wanted to create another segment of the Key."
"Doctor, we know that Dawn is the Key," Giles informed him. "The Goddess has been visiting her since she was a baby, to inform her of this fact."
The Doctor looked thoroughly glum and troubled, as he thought through all the implications of this. Each one he thought up was worse and more terrible than the last.
"However," Giles continued, "we do still have the resurrection gauntlet that you gave us. And, after what Dawn's told us, we believe that is the way to restore your daughter's soul back to her." He coughed, pointedly. "If you could explain to us how to accomplish this… we would greatly appreciate it."
The Doctor blinked.
Then spun around, to face Giles. "Sorry — resurrection gauntlet?"
"You let them get away!" Angelus accused.
The Goddess blinked. She dropped him and stepped back, suddenly looking very confused.
"No, I see," Angelus said, working it out. "You wanted them to get away. Well, not this you. The you who cries whenever you see poor little Dawn Summers."
"How dare you!" the Goddess hissed.
Angelus gave a loud, cruel laugh. "You aren't in control, anymore, are you? You! The Goddess who destroyed the world! Who survives anything and everything! You're terrified, because — for the first time — you don't know what you're doing."
The Goddess stormed up to him. "I know exactly what I'm…!"
Angelus grabbed her up and kissed her. He felt her, as she melted into him, circling her arms around his body, running her hands through his hair.
He broke away. "Like I said," he told her. "Don't have a clue what you're doing." He touched his forehead to hers. "Your mommy was right. You're in love with me."
"Don't be absurd," the Goddess huffed.
"Oh, I'd love not to, darling, but it's hard when you're still trying to masquerade yourself as a Hell Goddess — even though, every hour, you're becoming more and more human." He cupped her face in his hands, examining her, carefully. "I can see it, in your eyes — just as I can see it in Buffy's. You love me."
She slapped him — hard enough that he stumbled back, away from her.
But nowhere near as hard as she could.
"How long did you cry, when the me from this timeline disappeared?" Angelus taunted. "Did your hearts ache? Did you reach for that empty spot on the bed, hoping he'd be there — and then feel that cold chill, because you'd forgotten he was gone?"
"You bastard," the Goddess growled.
Angelus closed the space between them, and swept her up into another kiss. He let her prove herself wrong, as she eagerly tried to get more from him, pulling him towards her and acting ever so needy.
"Look at you — the Slayer's daughter," said Angelus, kissing down the side of her neck and feeling her shudder beneath him. "So very desperate. So very scared." He pinched her. "So very human." He cupped her face in his hand. "Tell me, little Say-say — you don't mind if I call you that, right? After all, it's who you're turning back into…" He leaned in. "Tell me, little Say-say — what would you do to make me kiss you?"
She met his eyes with her own — leaning in so close, their lips almost touched. "Stop it."
"What do I have to do, to make you break apart, like Drusilla?" Angelus pondered. He nipped at her lips, teasing her with the prospect of a real, deep kiss. "Do I hurt you?" He pulled away. "Or do I just ignore you? Do I leave you begging and give you nothing back?"
She grabbed him by the arms, her pupils dilated, her teeth gritted, and it wasn't clear if she was about to beat him to a pulp or straddle him, right then and there — or both, at once.
"What if I decided I was bored with you," Angelus proposed, stepping out of her grip, "and went back to your mommy, instead? She's younger than you. Prettier than you. She may be a little inexperienced, but I think it'll be worth putting in the time and effort with her."
"I am perfect," the Goddess hissed. "She is nothing."
"Perfect? Call yourself perfect, when you're falling apart before my eyes?" He drew her towards him and began touching her, teasing her. "Look at you. Needy. Hungry. Little Say-say. I can drive you wild, make your hearts race, make you a blubbering wreck — and then just…" He stepped away, raising his hands in the air. "...step back and soak in the disappointment and hurt in your eyes, as I leave you. Just like the lonely wretch you are, inside."
She practically tackled him to the ground. "You complete bastard," she hissed, as she gave him a deep, passionate kiss.
Angelus broke off the kiss, purposely. Then, he rolled her onto her back and hit her — hard.
"I can see why my other self was so obsessed with you," Angelus said, with a cold laugh. He hit her again, even harder, just for good measure. "I thought destroying the Slayer would be fun! This is much, much better. Hurt you, and the Slayer suffers. Break you, and I break her. But you're more fun to toy with." He rolled off her, jumped to his feet, and kicked her. "And, best of all, you'll put up with anything from me — but don't ever seem to get that I don't care for you, in the slightest."
The Goddess sat up, narrowing her eyes at him. "Fine. Have it your way!"
She snapped her fingers.
Angelus cried out, as he dropped down to the floor, a golden light shimmering in his eyes. He curled up into a ball, feeling the agony of his centuries of crimes coming back to him.
"This wasn't part of the plan!" the Goddess shouted at him, jumping to her feet and racing over to him. "You're throwing off all the equations! Everything I've planned so long to… to…!"
She realized, to her horror, she had leaned down, put her hands on Angel's shoulders, and was helping him up and turning him towards the exit to the mansion.
"No," the Goddess breathed, stopping herself. "I can't… be…" She looked down at herself. "I'm not human! It's not happening!"
She grabbed him up and shoved chains around his wrists — stringing him up where Buffy had been, earlier. She panted, a little, trying to calm herself down. It was only then that she realized she had the key to the chains still in her hand — and that she was already handing the key to Angel, even now.
She flung the key away.
Then snapped her fingers, again, to get Angelus back — just to stop this, before she did something to allow Angel to escape, soul and all, so he could go help Buffy. This wasn't the plan, she'd said — but was it Seo's? The Goddess shuddered. Had she really snapped her fingers to punish Angelus, or had she done it because something crawling around in her subconscious wanted to return her mother's boyfriend to her?
"I have to get rid of this," the Goddess told herself, leaning over and threading her hands through her hair. She felt herself hyperventilating. "I have to get rid of this! I have to get rid of this!"
That was when a gaggle of sack-clothed, pimple-faced minions raced into the room. They groveled before her. "Oh, glorious Goddess! Oh divine and ethereal one! We have found a way to eliminate the final vestiges of your soul!"
The Goddess looked up, suddenly hopeful.
"It is not enough to destroy the resurrection gauntlet," said the minions. "From all we have discovered, you must destroy the gauntlet in lava — in the midst of an explosion so powerful, it will be a monumentally fundamental temporal moment in this planet's history."
The Goddess sighed and rolled her eyes, throwing up her hands in the air. "The resurrection gauntlet is gone, dumbos! I fought the Doctor for it, ages ago, and it got smashed to bits!"
"Actually," said Angelus, a gleam in his eye, "it didn't. It's right here, in Sunnydale. I've seen it." He grinned at her. "Give me another chance — and I'll get it for you. Promise."